Chapter 5
'OMG! I can't believe that this is happening! What are we gonna do?' Dina sobbed as she clung to Mike.
Mike and her sat down and he told her the tragic news that he had found a copy of the video from the night when Johnathon was accused of murder. He had found it in some files on MW's laptop. MW appeared to have been long gone, but this file was not erased. 'I didn't get to tell Johnathon that either.'
'Who knows. Maybe she left it on purpose ...to get Johnathon off the hook." Dina speculated.
Speechless..everyone just sat silent.
Silent until Gunter spoke up saying, 'We need to go back. Cameron will be wondering where we all are.'
'Just tell him an old friend of mine and Gunter's was in an accident and we are gonna stay with him,' Dina told Kay.
Kay nodded, hugged Dina and then left to return to Cameron's room.
The movie played in the background, but Jordan had drifted off to sleep in the recliner.
Cameron stared out the hospital window at the sunset, his mind wandering. His thoughts jumping from Johnathon to his Dad to the map….who needs it, and mostly back to Johnny, his twin, his brother, his best friend.
'Damm' he squeezed his eyes shut to try to stop the pattern of thoughts and focused on the TV….until they started up again and the cycle continued.
'Damm' he put the call light light on, and the nurse came to his room.
'I think I did too much today. I'm really in pain, my ribs and head are killing me. I need some something for pain.'
'Sure, I'll be right back' and she returned with 2 pills, which he took and sighed a sigh of relief.
About an hour later, she returned to check on him and surprisingly found Cameron still awake with a pained look on his face.
'I take it the medicine didn't really help.'
'No, not really. Is there anything else I can have? It still really hurts'.
She pulled up his chart on the tablet, and said there is still IV pain meds ordered. She went to get it.
While she was gone, Cam slipped the hidden pills out that she had given him earlier, and really took them this time. 'Ta Da' he whispered to himself.
She returned and helped him up to the bathroom, so he wouldn't get woken up for that later.
She injected the medicine into his IV, made sure he was comfortable, and turned off the TV and the lights.
Kay sneaked into he darkened room that she had become very familiar with, and curled up on the couch, relieved to find both of her friends peacefully sleeping.
Only a short while later she was startled by the sound of the loud monitors blaring and beeping.
Ginger, his nurse for the evening, came bolting in and quickly sat his bed up, and gave him oxygen when her attempts to arouse him failed. Kay tried gently tapping his face and hands, but no response at all.
Another nurse arrived and administered Narcan and hooked up IV fluids.
...and with that Cameron was awake, dazed and confused, but awake. Everyone just stared at him and the monitors.
Ginger finally spoke up to explain to what had happened.
'He reported being in lots of pain, and I gave him his standard does of pain meds. He was fine. He was alert and talking about how he missed his brother..really not sleepy at all. He got up to the bathroom and I listened to his lungs to be sure that wasn't his problem. I can't believe that the small dose of IV meds caused all this.'
'Obviously he can't handle drugs.' 'I'll let Dr. B know.' Ginger said.
'Dr. B—Thanks for calling me back,' she said as she put the call on speaker.
'I'm still in the OR, what do you need.'
"It's Cameron Black. He needed Narcan. His respiratory rate was low and his O2 sats dropped. He is awake now. I gave him Narcan and oxygen and restarted his IV fluids.'
'Who was in the room with him?'
'Just his friend Jordan, but he was sleeping, when I gave him the meds. He said he did too much today and was in a lot of pain.'
'Is Kay with him now?'
'Yes, she is .'
"Tell him, I'm gonna send Dr. White to see him. Is that Ok?'
Kay quickly answered the question. 'Yes, Yes it is!"
'Cam?" Dr. B questioned.
'Ya' he meekly answered.
'Ginger, Can you page her and tell what happened and that he said he would talk to her.'
Dr. White arrives and meets Jordan, Kay and Cameron. Cam is awake, with a nasal cannula still on, sitting in bed with bloodshot eyes and the IV still going. Kay is sitting on the bed with him, holding his hand. She introduces herself and gets right to it.
'Cameron, Did you try to kill yourself?'
'NO No of course not! I just wanted to NOT think about my brother and how he betrayed me and where is is and what he is doing and is he OK?.' Cam panted out.
'And you thought the medicine would do that?'
'Yes,' he mumbled.
'Were you really in pain?'
'Yes, but not very much. I let Ginger think that I had taken he pills and they were not enough. When she went to the IV medicine, I quickly took the pills.'
'Got it, and you don't think that is attempted suicide?'
'No! hell No!' I knew I had the damm monitors on. I just wanted sleep and not dream and definitely not think about Johnathon,' he said with tears streaming down his face.
Jordan looked at Cam, 'How could you do this to me? I'm gonna get blamed for this one too!'
'It wasn't your fault, Jordan.'
'I thought you were getting better! You looked so happy doing the show today.' Jordan replied.
'Stage presence. I still got it.' He said sheepishly.
Dr. White, looked at Kay and Jordan, 'Why don't you guys take a break and go get something to eat, while Cameron and I talk a while.
Instead of the cafeteria, they headed to meet up with the rest of the group in the surgical waiting room and they filled Jordan in on what had happened to Johnny,
'Why didn't you tell me? You know Cam said I am the best liar.'
'We needed someone to stay with Cameron, Dina explained.
'Ya, lotta good that did.' he scoffed.
The response caused Dina, Mike and Gunter to give puzzled looks to Jordan and Kay.
'Jordan piped up with, 'He worked the system and pulled off his own deception to get too much pain medicine and had to be revived,'
'What?! 'exclaimed Dina.
'Ya, IV Narcan, his IV and oxygen are hooked up again. His breathing was slow and shallow and he set off the monitors.'
"Is he Ok now?' Mike quickly asked.
'Ya I think he is fine. Dr. White is with him to talk about Johnathon and coping. He is pretty upset, but I am sure she will help him, Kay responded.
'He is gonna need all the help he can get when he finds out about Johnny!' signed Gunter.
He continued, 'We are gonna tell him—right?"
''We have to,' Kay said, 'they are twins, some staff member will notice. They are identical after all!'
'Man, it's been over 4 hours. When do you think that we will hear anything?' Dina asked.
Mike flashed his badge at the desk attendant, and asked for news on Johnathon Black. He was told that the surgery was over and Dr. B was on his way out and to have a seat.
'That's all they said. Not 'he is recovery'?' Dina asked in a very worried meek voice.
''No' Mike replied. Dina started to sway and Mike grabbed her and helped her sit down, just as Dr. B emerged.
'Hey guys. he is out of surgery. He was in bad shape.' Dr. B started to explain.
'Is he…Is he….He is gonna be…."Gunter started.
'He is alive,' Dr. B replied. 'He is being taken to the ICU to recover. He lost lots of blood. His internal organs were damaged, but we repaired them. His femur was stabilized, but he will need another surgery in a couple of days when he is stronger. Was worried about keeping under the anesthesia for too much longer, the other surgeon worked on his belly and I worked on his leg.'
'Can we see him?' asked Dina.
'Sure, let me finish this coffee and I'll take you. You can only stay a minute.'
Before anyone could object, the conversation continued, ' now what's up with Cameron?'
'I think he was just overwhelmed. He said that couldn't stop thinking about Johnathon. How much he missed him. Where was he? Was he Ok? Was he coming back?'
'He said he just wanted to sleep. He admitted to holding the pills till he got the IV meds and then taking them to sleep deeply. The monitors alerted the staff that he was in trouble. He wouldn't wake up until they gave him the Narcan. It was really scary.' Kay explained.
'You gotta wonder if he somehow knew that Johnathon was in trouble. They always seem to know when something is wrong with the other one. Like maybe he just had a bad feeling…..' Dina said.
'Lucky Dr. White was was around. We texted and she said she would stay with him and work with him until I was done and could come to see him,' Dr. B added. 'So let's go see Johnathon, and then we can go talk to Cameron.'
Johnathon's room was brightly lit with a flurry of activity still going on. He was intubated on a ventilator. Blood was infusing into his veins along with regular IVs.
His hair was still slicked back with only a few stays hairs on his forehead. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful, except that his wrists were in restraints.
As Jordan checked them to be sure that they were not tight at all, he quickly asked, 'Why?'
'Sometimes, patients feel a sensation that makes them pull at the tube as they come in and out of consciousness. This stops them from hurting themselves. It's like a gentle reminder. It's standard for intubated patients.'
'Its not cuz his is in custody of the FBI?' asked Jordan.
'Oh no. not at all.'Dr. B. quickly explained.
Gunter then asked,' What's that contraption on his leg? It looks like torture.'
'That is holding the bones in place externally with pins and metal. In a few days, that will come off and I will fix it. That is the second surgery I mentioned, but he needs to get stronger. This is just temporary, and I don't think he will remember any of this.'
'Is he is pain?' Dina asked.
'We are monitoring him very closely and doing everything to be sure that he is not.' Dr. B. explained.
Is he gonna be OK?' Kay asked as her eyes darted to land on him.
'We are doing everything we can. He is getting antibiotics, to treat his wounds and prevent pneumonia and other drugs to help him recover. Now he just need time to heal.'
Dina held his hand, and kissed his fingers, as tears ran down her face, just taking it all in; the glare of the harsh lights, the smell of the hospital and the sound of the beeping monitors.
'Oh Johnny, what happened? Why did you do this?' she said as she rubbed the stray hairs from his forehead.
She rubbed and squeezed his hand.
'Really, he is in good hands. Let's go talk to Cam.'
'They will take good care of him, even though he is in custody?' Dina asked,
''Of course" Dr.B offered.
Mike added, 'and anyway, Deakens has started the process to get an emergent court case to have him cleared of the murder charge and changed to time served. It will take awhile, but she is expediting it,' he said as he hugged Dina.
They all arrived at Cameron's room. The door was closed and they could see that the lights were out through the small window in the door. Cam was sleeping and Dr. White was sitting on the couch working on her laptop.
Dr. B. waved and quietly cracked the door which caused her to put her fingers up to her lips and - SHHH- him and she quickly came out into the hall.
'How did surgery go?'
'He is out and in the ICU, and I think he will be Ok."
'How is Cameron?'
'He definitely needs some help. He is very anxious to find his brother and seems to want to repair the relationship. He takes the blame for the fact that Johnny is still in prison and really has no anger toward him for leaving him in there. He was very emotional and spoke of lots of bad dreams that he hasn't talked about. He was really worked up, so I gave him something to help him relax. We talked a couple of hours and has been sleeping ever since, so maybe an hour or so.'
'I need to talk to him about his brother. Ya think I should wake him up, cuz although Johnny is stable now, we all know how that could go." Dr. B. said. 'but it is really late….or early rather.'
'Ya know, I'll be here all night anyways. I'll go check on Johnny, and one of you can stay with him in the ICU and the rest can stay with Cam until he wakes up, so it's not obvious that something is amiss. Call me when he is awake and we can talk,' said Dr. B as he left with Dina, who was going to stay with Johnathon.
The rest of the team settled down in Cameron's room.
The blaring alarms awoke the team, and Jordan jumped up first as he seemed to recognize them from before.
As they brought their eyes into focus, they saw Cameron putting the monitor back on his finger and holding the Oxygen in place while taking some deep breaths, and softly cursing at the monitors.
The door to his room slammed open and staff and Dr.B cam bolting in. 'What happened now?' Dr. B asked.
'I just wanted to go the bathroom without waking anyone up, ' he grinned with an embarrassed smile.
'Come on, I'll help you, Ginger said and silenced the alarms.
'Sorry' he mumbled again.
'Well, we are certainly all up now, ' Gunter sighed as he plopped back down on the chair, Jordan was still catching his breath and Kay slacked back down on her spot on the couch.
Dr. B helped Cameron get comfortable back in the bed.
Cam started, 'I'm really sorry about yesterday. I really don't know what came over me. I haven't felt that way in a long long time. I couldn't get Johnny out of my head. I just kept seeing him stare at me. I could hear him yelling, 'Don't make me go back.' I remember when we were kids there was something that Dad wanted him to do on stage, and Johnny wasn't having any of it and he kept yelling that at Dad. I couldn't get those words out of my head. I was a mess. I should have told someone. I know, but I just wanted to sleep and clear my head.'
"and you worked with Dr. White, and she said it went well.' Dr.B added.
'Ya, but I kind of lost control at some point. I was just a total mess.'
'Seems like you got some good rest after that.' Kay said.
'Ya, I think so, I don't think I moved all night, but I'm still kind of tired today. 'Ya think you could do your checkup while you are here so I can go back to sleep?' he said to Dr. B.
'Sure' he replied and quickly did as Cam requested, but told him that he could still hear the effects of the pneumonia and he would still need to stay in the hospital.
Kay was now standing next to Cameron, just watching him breathe in and out, as his head peacefully fell to his chest. She lowered his bed to make him more comfortable and fixed his blankets, as she did, his eyes popped open and they exchanged a brief smile before he drifted off to sleep again.
'He picks today to catch up on sleep!,' Gunter loudly whispers.
'Shh—he is still recovering too!' Jordan adds.
'How is….you know?' Gunter starts again in his characteristically loud whisper addressing Dr. B.
'SHHH'-Kay repeats in a super low tone. 'You're gonna wake him up. He is going to hear you and you can tell him!'
'Tell me what?' Cam mumbles. No one said a word. He let his head roll to the side, almost opening his eyes, but really only lifting his eyebrows. 'Tell me what? he repeats a bit later with a groggy voice.
'Shh Cam, shhh go back to sleep. We can talk about it when you wake up. Ok? shh, just relax and go back to sleep. You need to rest. SHHH, Shh ' Kay whispered as she softly brushes his hair back. She smiles at him and says, 'It's time to sleep, shh. My magic will still work on you, 'as she gently caressed his forehead. It was working, clearly it was working as Cam's face relaxed and his breathing slowed and he drifted off to sleep again….., until he wasn't. He popped his eyes open, quickly reaching up and grabbing her wrist and to stop her.
'Ta Da,' he said, 'I spoiled your trick this time.' He grabbed a sip of water to show that he was awake, and waiting for an answer to his question as he sat the bed upright.
'Now, Tell me what?'
'What's going on around here? Something is up! What are you not telling me? It started with those phone calls yesterday, didn't it?
'Where's Dina?' as he spoke he got louder and louder and the words came faster and faster.
'Cameron, Calm down! Remember what happened the last time you got all upset? You had a coughing fit and needed the oxygen mask. Just relax for a minute.' Kay said as she laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing it and rubbing the back of his neck as she tried to help him relax. She gently pushed his shoulders back against the bed, 'Take a slow breath with me.'
Cameron followed along with Kay for a brief second and then continued.
'I AM calm. Now spill it.'
'Ok, well here is it,' Dr. B started and Kay filled in the details that she had heard from Mike, until the entire situation was laid out for Cameron to take in.
Cam jumped up yanked on his pants under his hospital gown, and hurried to the door. 'Come on,' he said looking back at the team, I don't know where he is and I'm gonna see him,' only giving Dr. B as split second to turn off the monitors before they alarmed again.
'Ok, sit in the wheelchair, and we will take you.' Cam did and quickly started working the wheels himself to get moving.
'Just stop!' Dr. B ordered 'Hold on! We are taking the oxygen tank and nasal cannula. Chill out, and put this on,' as Dr. B adjusted it. Cam huffed and sounded completely annoyed as he tried his best to hurry the events along.
